Daily updates about Syria

6/26/2014

Ahmad Jarba, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, will visit China on Tuesday.

Louay Safi, the spokesman for the Syrian National Coalition, said that President Obama’s recent remarks that supplying weapons to moderate rebel groups would have toppled Assad is a “fantasy” are an attempt to evade criticisms of his foreign policy in Syria and cover up his administrations inability to prevent the deterioration of the situation in Iraq and Syria.

Abdul Majid al-Otaibi, an ISIL commander in Eastern Ghouta, was shot and killed by unknown gunmen in a car in the Hosh al-Ashaari region. The ISIL accused to Army of Islam of being behind the attack and threatened to blow up targets in the region in retaliation.

President Obama asked congress for $500 million to train and arm approved rebel groups.

Activists said that the government is encouraging displaced citizens from the area of Adra, north of Damascus, to return even though the region is till contested.

The Syrian Air Force bombed the Mherda power plant in Hama shortly after rebels captured it yesterday:

Ibrahim Kreiker, the mayor of the southern Rif Damashq town of Jumraia, was assassinated after unknown gunmen stormed his office and shot him.

The Judicial Council in Eastern Ghouta issued a demand, which was announced by Zahran Alloush, the leader of the Islamic Front, gave the ISIL in the area a 24 hour deadline to disband.

Valarie Amos, the UN Humanitarian Chief, told the UN Security Council that the Syrian government is imposing “arbitrary restrictions and obstructions” on aid delivery, and has banned the delivery of life-saving medical supplies to rebel-held areas. She also said that “some opposition groups have also attacked, threatened and refused to cooperate with humanitarian workers”.

Mahmoud Abbas, the President of Palestine, sent a letter to Assad affirming the legitimacy of the recent presidential election, and stating that he supports Assad’s war against terrorism.

15 people were killed in a barrel bomb attack on Hanano, Aleppo.

7 civilians were killed in a barrel bomb attack on the Karam al-Jabal neighborhood of Aleppo.

Ahmad Tu’mah, the Prime Minister of the Opposition Interim Government, dissolved the Supreme Military Council, and dismissed Abdul Ilah al-Bashir from the Joint Military Council. He called on rebel groups on the ground to form a military defense council within a month.

An unexploded barrel bomb in Dael, Hama:

Government forces advanced in Hama around the Christian town of Mharde, while rebels advanced around the south of Morek.

6 people were killed by government shelling on the Jobar neighborhood of Damascus.

Government forces have blockaded the al-Hasakah neighborhood of Gweiran, after fighting between them and the YPG.

2 men and a fighter from an Islamic battalion were killed by a cluster bomb attack on a bus in the southern outskirts of Saraqeb city, Idlib.

6 government forces were killed fighting Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic battalions in the Qalamoun area of Rif Dimashq.

3 Islamic fighters were killed, and 12 people who were mostly civilians were injured by a car bomb in the Jabhat al-Nusra and Islamic battalion-held town of Hawayej al-Zyab in Deir Ez Zor.

Jugs for collecting rain water in Kafr Batna, which is currently under a siege and a water cut-off from government forces.